Usually when presidential campaign seasons roll around, the largest union in Vermont tarries until after the primary season to make an endorsement.

This is not most years.

"We've never had Bernie running for president," said Martha Allen, president of the Vermont chapter of the National Education Association. The teachers union announced Wednesday that its board has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in his Democratic presidential bid.

Sanders responded in a statement by saying he was honored to have the backing of "real American heroes."

The union will start contacting members who live across the border in New Hampshire and encouraging them to volunteer, Allen said.

And next week, the Vermont delegation to a national NEA meeting will wear Sanders campaign T-shirts one day, she said.

Financial support for the campaign will be discussed later, said Vermont-NEA spokesman Darren Allen.

"We are not used to getting involved in presidential primaries particularly early," the spokesman said.

The union has supported Sanders for years and agrees with his ideas on public education, student debt and economic inequality, according to a news release.

"It shouldn't be a surprise that this union is heartily behind Bernie's message," Darren Allen said.

The union's counterpart in New Hampshire, home of the earliest presidential primaries, has yet to make a recommendation on candidates, Martha Allen said.

This story was first published on June 24, 2015. Contact April Burbank at 802-660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank

Bernie Sanders, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and his first wife began spending summers in Vermont during the 1960s in Middlesex and Stannard after his graduation from the University of Chicago in 1964. In 1968, he moved to the state for good and in 1971 became involved with the radical-left Liberty Union Party. The following is a summary of a selection of stories about Sanders that appeared in the Burlington Free Press, beginning in 1971.

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Nov 24, 1971

Sanders announces U.S. Senate run

Bernard Sanders, 30, announces he is running for the U.S. Senate in the special election following the death of Sen. Winston Prouty, R-Vt. Sanders describes himself as a carpenter who has worked with "disturbed children." Asked why he was running, Sanders says, "What the two major parties are saying is irrelevant regarding the problems facing this country. ... A democracy is made up of people, and they are not making the decisions. The concentration of power makes the average man feel irrelevant; this results in apathy. As for my qualifications, I am not a politician."

Jan 7, 1972

Sanders finishes distant third

Rep. Robert Stafford, R-Vt., is elected to the U.S. Senate to replace Winston Prouty. Sanders finishes a distant third with 1,571 votes, 2.2 percent of the votes cast.

Oct 3, 1972

Sanders runs for governor

Sanders, after losing the Senate race, runs for governor in 1972 under the Liberty Union banner. At a debate with his two major-party rivals at Johnson State College, Sanders wins repeated applause from a crowd of 350 students as he attacks the Republican and the Democratic candidates for governor. He accuses the GOP of a welfare policy that would make poor people "eat dirt" and chides both parties for not advocating stiff taxation of corporations in Vermont.

Sanders, now running as a Liberty Unionite for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Sen. George Aiken, R-Vt., calls on President Gerald Ford not to appoint N.Y. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller as his vice president. "David Rockefeller, who is head of the Chase Manhattan Bank and the head of the Rockefeller family's financial interests, is at present the most powerful man in the world," Sanders said at a news conference. "To further consolidate the power of this one family by appointing Nelson Rockefeller to the vice presidency of the United States government strikes me as being extremely dangerous."

Nov 5, 1974

Leahy elected to U.S. Senate

Patrick Leahy is elected to the U.S. Senate, replacing the retiring Sen. George Aiken, R-Vt. Sanders gets 4.901 votes, 4.1 percent of the total.

Oct. 6, 1976

Back on the campaign trail

Sanders returns to the campaign trail, this time running in an open-seat governor's race as the Liberty Union Party standard-bearer. In an interview with the Burlington Free Press, he is asked why he's running. "When I was a boy and watched presidents and other candidates on television, it became clear what they were saying didn't make sense to my parents or even me," he answers. "I came to realize it is right and necessary for people to stand up and oppose what is wrong. I have learned that people will respond if you tell them the truth about how you see the world."

Nov 2, 1976

Snelling elected governor

Republican Richard Snelling is elected governor, replacing Gov. Thomas Salmon, who left office in an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. Sanders finishes with 11,317 votes, or 6.1 percent of the total.

Oct. 22, 1977

Sanders leaves Liberty Union Party

After four unsuccessful runs for statewide office as a Liberty Union Party member, Sanders announces he is leaving the party, along with the party's 1976 Senate candidate, Nancy Kaufman. Sanders says he is taking the step because the party has not kept its promise to "remain active on a year-round basis in the struggles of working people against the banks and corporations which own and control Vermont and the nation."

Nov. 9, 1980

Sanders announces run for Burlington mayor

Sanders announces he will run for mayor of Burlington as an independent. "If ordinary people are to survive in the coming years, it is absolutely imperative that we band together in an organized effort to take control of the institutions which influence how we live," Sanders says at a news conference.

Mar 4, 1981

Sanders stuns Paquette

Sanders sends Burlington's political establishment reeling with stunning, 12-vote upset win over five-term Mayor Gordon Paquette and two other rivals. Sanders charges there are "irregularities" in the election and asks a judge to impound all the voter ballots. Sanders says his poll watchers were prohibited from watching the counting of paper ballots in some of the city's six wards. A recount later establishes Sanders won by 10 votes.

Apr 14, 1981

FBI warned by federal judge

On April 14, 1981, city aldermen vote to fire Sanders' secretary, Linda Niedweske, over claims that Sanders failed to follow proper procedures in hiring her. Sanders calls the move an insult. Aldermen agree four days later to approve Niedweske's hiring.

The next day, a federal judge urges the FBI to display more discretion than the bureau did a week earlier when agents sought information about Sanders on file at the Vermont Secretary of State's Office the day after Sanders was sworn in as mayor. "They better do it quietly, and they better be sensitive to the fact that the mere flashing of a badge in connection with some public official ... could get very badly misinterpreted," Judge Thomas Griesa tells a federal prosecutor. The FBI was looking into Sanders' background with the Socialist Workers Party.

Jul 5, 1981

Doonesbury spoofs Sanders

"Doonesbury" makes Sanders the subject of its Sunday strip, lampooning the self-described socialist mayor by imagining an interview between Sanders and TV talk show host Tom Snyder. "I bring you greetings from the People's Republic of Burlington," Sanders is spoofed as telling Snyder. Niedweske, Sanders' secretarial aide, tells the Free Press that comic strip creator Garry Trudeau visited with Sanders while in Burlington to speak at the University of Vermont's commencement.

Jul 16, 1981

Sanders in dispute with aldermanic board

Sanders, embroiled in another dispute with the Democrat-controlled Board of Aldermen regarding his decision to replace several top officials in City Hall, takes his fight to court. He is represented by William Sessions, who later becomes a U.S. District Court judge. The board is represented by Frederic Allen, who later becomes chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. The case ultimately is resolved in Sanders' favor.

Mar 2, 1983

Sanders wins second term as mayor

Sanders sweeps into a second term, winning 52 percent of the vote and defeating his closest challenger, Democrat Judy Stephany, by 21 percentage points. Republican James Gilson is a distant third. "If you run a decent and intelligent administration, people are not afraid of the word 'socialism,'" Sanders says a day later, following an appearance on the CBS Morning News.

Jul 16, 1985

Sanders visits Nicaragua

Sanders arrives in Managua, Nicaragua, for a weeklong visit as a guest of the Sandinista-controlled government of President Daniel Ortega. "The political goal is to convey to the Nicaraguan people that in my view, a majority of Americans do not believe it's appropriate for the United States to unilaterally overthrow governments that it dislikes," he tells the Burlington Free Press during the flight to Managua. "What's happening in Nicaragua goes far beyond Nicaragua. It is symptomatic of what the United States will be in terms of its relationship with the entire world."

May 11, 1986

Sanders announces run for governor

Sanders announces he will run as an independent for governor against incumbent Democratic Gov. Madeleine Kunin and Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Smith, telling supporters in Burlington he will offer a choice between the "tweedledee, tweedledum politics of the two major parties. "Today we begin a campaign where we say no to status-quo politics, no to the politics of the lesser of two evils, no to the gubernatorial candidate of the Democratic Party and no to the gubernatorial candidate of the Republican Party," he says.

Sanders, now in his fourth term as Burlington's mayor, holds a Montpelier news conference to announce he will run for the U.S. House seat held by Rep. James Jeffords, R-Vt., who in turn is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Robert T. Stafford, R-Vt. "The state of Vermont has a history of sending unconventional representatives, mavericks, to Washington," Sanders says. "Over 40 years ago, we sent George Aiken there."

May 29, 1988

Sanders marries Jane O'Mera Driscoll

Sanders marries his longtime partner, Jane O'Mera Driscoll, the city's Youth Office director, at an outdoor ceremony at North Beach, a city park in Burlington on Lake Champlain. The wedding is attended by more than 300 friends and relatives. "I'm feeling wonderful," he says afterward. "It's a beautiful day, and it's a joy to be able to share it with so many of our friends and family. It's really lovely."

Nov 9, 1988

Sanders loses to Republican Smith

Sanders finishes the U.S. House race a close second to Republican Peter Smith. Sanders garners 90,026 votes but loses by 3 percentage points. Sanders finishes 20 percentage points ahead of the Democrat, Paul Poirier. "It's not easy changing the world," a dejected Sanders told supporters after conceding the race to Smith.

Apr 4, 1989

Sanders hands Burlington mayoral reigns to Clavelle

Sanders, after four terms as mayor, hands over the reins of City Hall to his close friend Peter Clavelle, who defeated Democrat Nancy Chioffi in the race to succeed Sanders. "I think we proved something to the country," Sanders says in his farewell address. "People with strong differences don't have to kill each other or defame each other, but they can disagree and do their job as best that they can."

Mar 20, 1990

Sanders announces bid for U.S. House

Sanders returns to the political battlefield as he tells a Montpelier news conference he will challenge U.S. Rep. Peter Smith, R-Vt., for the state's lone House seat. Sanders decides to eschew a possible run for governor following Gov. Madeleine Kunin's decision to step down after three terms. "This campaign for Congress is about hope," he says. "It is saying to the people of Vermont, especially the working people, the elderly people, environmentalists, peace activists, people who year after year feel that they've been knocking their heads against Washington: 'Please don't give up.'"

Oct 30, 1990

Smith ad attacks Sanders

Rep. Peter Smith, R-Vt., begins airing a TV ad accusing Sanders of being sympathetic to the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba and disparaging President John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you" inaugural speech. Sanders recoils at the claim, saying both statements are "an absolute lie." A review of the TV claims finds that Sanders is right that the quotes were taken out of context and manipulated.

Sanders reaches a deal with Democratic House Speaker Thomas Foley that will allow Sanders, an independent, to accrue seniority and have a seat on a major House committee but not make him a member of the House Democratic Caucus, something Sanders had said during the campaign that he would seek. "I'm delighted," Sanders says of the arrangement. "They have decided to treat me as any other member of the party but not as a member of the caucus."

Aug 26, 1992

Sanders endorses Bill Clinton

Sanders, in the midst of a successful re-election campaign, halfheartedly endorses Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton. "I have no illusions that Bill Clinton will take all the steps that must be taken to put America back on the path toward economic justice, or to combat the pervasive influence of big money on American politics," he said. "Bill Clinton offers more hope and better, bolder plans than George Bush."

Nov 7, 2006

Sanders wins U.S. Senate seat

With the retirement of Sen. Jim Jeffords creating an opening, Sanders runs for
the Senate and wins, defeating Richard Tarrant in the general election.